Year: 2006

The weekly magazine pushes the Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden as the Democrats best hope to win the White House in 2008.

Oh really!?!

If that’s the best the Democrats can do, the GOP has nothing to worry about.

Senator John McCain of Arizona bucked tradition and injected himself into the business of the House of Representatives today by endorsing Representative John Shadegg for House Majority Leader. Apparently, the lure of the fisheye lens was too great.

Although McCain has at times bucked the GOP (most notably on campaign finance reform), Shadegg welcomed the endorsement from his home-state senator.

“I appreciate having Sen. McCain’s support today because he is a long-time advocate of reform in this area,” Shadegg said. “Neither of us discovered this issue in the past few weeks or months. Both of us understand that real reform means more than tightening bureaucratic rules, it means fundamental changes to the way Congress does business.”

McCain joined Shadegg for a joint news conference this afternoon in the Capitol. They spoke about the need to enact earmark reform — an issue President Bush addressed last night in his State of the Union address.

This makes me wonder if Shadegg is actually the best guy for the position.

Oh, and if you’re keeping score, that’s 59 poses in front of the camera for McCain, 75 poses for Sen. Chuck Schumer. The race is on!

The lefty blogs have got their tighty whities in a knot over the ejection of Cindy Sheehan from the Capitol building last night just prior to the State of the Union speech. Sister Toldjah is following all the ‘day after’ lunacy.

UPDATE: Oh Brother! Capitol Police Cave-in, issue apology.

Iran is getting nervous.

Iran Redeploys Shihab-3 Missiles

Iran, concerned over an Israeli or U.S. attack, has ordered the redeployment of its Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile force.

Western intelligence sources said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has received orders to move Shihab-3 launchers in an attempt to prevent their destruction in an Israeli or U.S. air strike. The sources said the launchers were relocated to positions near the Iraqi border closer to U.S. military positions around Baghdad.

“The IRGC has been placed on war-footing,” an intelligence source said. “The Shihab-3 units have been alerted to the prospect of an immediate strike.”

The sources said the IRGC issued an order to the Shihab-3 missile units on Jan. 19. They said the units were ordered to move the Shihab launchers every 24 hours.

Iranians have a reason to be concerned.

President George W. Bush vowed on Wednesday the United States would defend Israel militarily if needed against Iran and denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for “menacing talk” against Israel.

In a Reuters interview aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, Bush also said he saw a “very good chance” the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency would refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

“I am concerned about a person that, one, tries to rewrite the history of the Holocaust, and two, has made it clear that his intentions are to destroy Israel,” Bush said.

“Israel is a solid ally of the United States, we will rise to Israel’s defense if need be. So this kind of menacing talk is disturbing. It’s not only disturbing to the United States, it’s disturbing for other countries in the world as well,” he added.

Asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel’s defense militarily, Bush said: “You bet, we’ll defend Israel.”

That’s what I like about George W. Bush. He says what he means.

If Iran continues down this path, its destruction is certain. Ahmadinejad has done nothing to prove he isn’t a lunatic. He’s reckless, and he’ll lead his nation toward destruction if he doesn’t wake up and realize that he is picking a fight he can’t win.

I was generally happy with the speech tonight. Bush definitely had his moments. Here’s a few of my favorites.

By allowing radical Islam to work its will – by leaving an assaulted world to fend for itself – we would signal to all that we no longer believe in our own ideals, or even in our own courage. But our enemies and our friends can be certain: The United States will not retreat from the world, and we will never surrender to evil.

Hard not to stand up and clap for that one. Delivered powerfully, Bush clearly excels as a wartime president, and when he utters a line like that last one, he’s completely credible.

The road of victory is the road that will take our troops home. As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels – but those decisions will be made by our military commanders, not by politicians in Washington, D.C.

A real dig at the ‘cut and run’ Democrats. Sweet.

Members of Congress: however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past, our Nation has only one option: We must keep our word, defeat our enemies, and stand behind the American military in its vital mission.

Another kick delivered to all Democrats who contradict themselves by propagating the lie that they can be against the war but still support the troops.

I have authorized a terrorist surveillance program to aggressively pursue the international communications of suspected al-Qaida operatives and affiliates to and from America. Previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have – and Federal courts have approved the use of that authority. Appropriate Members of Congress have been kept informed. This terrorist surveillance program has helped prevent terrorist attacks. It remains essential to the security of America. If there are people inside our country who are talking with al-Qaida, we want to know about it – because we will not sit back and wait to be hit again.

Delivered with a bit of cowboy-ish folksy emphasis; this was vintage Bush.

I am pleased that Members of Congress are working on earmark reform – because the Federal budget has too many special interest projects. And we can tackle this problem together, if you pass the line-item veto.

Not really a favorite of mine, but it did give me a chuckle. Just how many State of the Union addresses by Republican Presidents have included this line? Too funny.

There were a lot of other good moments, but these are the ones that stuck in my mind the most. Regarding the new policy proposals, etc., it’s always difficult to get excited about these. So many factors can contribute to a president’s initiatives succeeding or failing. We’ll just have to see which ones stick and which ones will have to wait for another day.

All-in-all, a good speech and a good night for George W. Bush.

“Uh, I’m ready for an interview. Ahem. AAAAAA-HEMMMM!! Right over here, former candidate for president, that’s me. I’ll be right here, go ahead and form a line. Uh, whenever you’re ready.”

Unpublished until now, Al-Jazeera reports that Al-Qaeda’s number two man Ayman al-Zawahiri has called upon President Bush to convert to Islam.

“If you obey, you will be a brother in religion and God will pardon the past,” she cited Zawahiri as saying in the tape broadcast on Monday.

Al-Jazeera did not broadcast excerpts of this passage from the tape, but said the full recording would be made available on its website.

I think it’s time the US Army drop Bibles from helicopters over the hills of Pakistan.

According to reports about a report on CNN, Cindy Sheehan will be in the gallery tonight during Bush’s State of the Union speech. She’ll supposedly be the guess of Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). I’m doubtful of the truthfulness of this report. Wouldn’t she be considered a security risk? She’s been cavorting with enemies of the United States. I think the Secret Service would have a serious problem with the idea of Mother Sheehan sitting in the crowd. I mean really…does anyone think she’d simply sit and listen to the president? I can’t imagine that’d be remotely possible for Cindy.

If she is let in, I predict she’ll be carried out within the first 15 minutes of the speech.

UPDATE: It’s not a rumor.

UPDATE II: Heh, she was arrested before it even started.

Oops!

While many politicians attempt to rewrite history in the speeches they make from the halls of Congress and on the Sunday TV talk shows, some have taken a different approach.